Healthcare
Oh, my it’s been long since I’ve blogged about politics. I’ve gotten so jaded, I have just about given up on following politics altogether. It’s hard to avoid the health care issue though.
You know, universal healthcare is a lovely, noble goal. I’d love for everybody everywhere to have health insurance. I’d also love for the world’s hungry to be fed and clothed, for there to be no war or famine … but are any of those things necessarily feasible in real life? Unfortunately, probably not.
This is the thing: I’d love to have every single person covered. But not if it means rationing care for everyone (cutting services) or raising taxes enormously – the only two options when you look at the facts. You can only do so much with a given amount of money. If we want to add millions more to the healthcare rolls, there will be NO other choices than to either raise taxes a lot, or to ration the services. I wish this wasn’t so.
I personally think that we should reform healthcare instead of just giving it totally over to the government’s control. (Because when is the last time you’ve seen the government make something better or do something right? That’s what I thought.) I would expand medicare and medicaid but require that EVERY able body pay a monthly sliding-scale premium based on income but capped at a reasonale amount. I would also extend amnesty to the illegal aliens on the condition that they pay their fair share too.
On the other hand is the drug companies that supply drugs worldwide at a fraction of the cost we pay for drugs here in the U.S. – because we are tacking on research and development costs to our drugs. I say if the world needs our medicine, they should help pay for the R&D as well. That would decrease drug costs here for us at home significantly.
So who’s with me?
But that’s the thing – no one wants to hear a sensible solution. The government is corrupt. Both parties. Don’t make me email you examples of government corruption … I can give you plenty, from both sides of the aisle. So why do we think that they would get into this and not screw it up MASSIVELY? Seriously, people, do you think the government is in this because they care about you? That’s just naive. They want to get their grubby hands on more of your tax dollars. If you can’t see that, then you need to open your eyes up.
So the bottom line is, there absolutely needs to be some common-sense reform. It stinks that people don’t have healthcare. But don’t sign all your freedoms away and get us into an even bigger mess before we try other solutions first.
Medical stuff
I have been having some odd things over the course of the last 6 months or so … random dizziness and stumbling, mostly whenever I moved suddenly, so I mentioned it to my oncologist at my annual check-up last Thursday. She was concerned and said that my cancer COULD have spread to my brain (thanks for giving me a heart attack, doc) and ordered an MRI (brain scan) and abdominal ultrasound scheduled for this past Monday. I’m not sure what my stomach has to do with my head?
Anyway, I got the results back yesterday afternoon … both are clear. Whew.
Since then I’ve had several stabbing pains in my ear, so I’m thinking this is an inner-ear thing. It sure has been going on for a while though! Maybe part of it is just klutziness. I guess I should go see an ENT, but seriously, I’m so sick of doctors and tests right now I think I’ll hold off until I really have to.
You should see my arm from where they put the contrast in when they were doing the MRI. I showed the radiologist my ONE good vein, and he decided to use another one. After a few seconds, he pulled the needle back out and said, “well, THAT got ugly and blew up really fast.” After I left, I had a big lump in my arm where the fluid had failed to go into my vein. That’s mostly gone, but now in it’s place is an awful-looking bruise. The funny part? The radiologist had to wind up using the ONE good vein that I originally showed him to get the contrast in. I hope he felt like an ass. 
The MRI was an interesting experience. Even though I had earplugs I could clearly hear all the rhythmic banging and knocking. I was mentally trying to compose a rock song based on one of the “beats” but now it’s flown out of my head.
Oh – another thing about that radiologist. I started to remove my wedding band before I got on the stretcher-bed thingy that rolled into the MRI machine and he stopped me, saying “that’s not necessary.” Well, the ring didn’t exactly fly off of my finger during the test, but it buzzed and vibrated very uncomfortably. If you’re ever in the same position, I would suggest taking if off.
Enough ranting for one day. I’m so glad to know I don’t have a brain tumor or something causing the problems.
I have a boo-boo
If you’re squeamish or eating, stop reading!
I have a bandaged-up leg after an ER trip last night. Several days ago, I got what looked like a bug bite, and a red circle grew out from it. I went to the doctor yesterday and they diagnosed me with cellulitis, gave me an antibiotic and told me to go to the ER if it changed at all. Well, between about 8 pm and 2 am, the red circle continued to grow steadily, putting out some long red streaks as well. The area also started feeling cold and tingly. I figured that it was time to head to the ER. I got there and the doctor cut into it pretty deep with a scalpel. He didn’t numb me up very well, so it was excruciating. He then packed it up and bandaged it. I guess he took some skin out; I was close to fainting from the pain, so I wasn’t watching. Anyway, it hurts like heck today, but the red streaks are gone, so I guess it’s getting better.
Fun stuff. Another one for my long list of hospital visits.
…Or something like that
Jay’s mom met me at the doctor when I was taking the kids there yesterday. When Gabriel saw her, he proclaimed “I have a booger. I hafta go the doctor.”
Update on kids
After realizing the kids did almost nothing but laze around on the couch all day, I checked and they both had temperatures. Their coughs were sounding worse, too, so I took them to the after-hours clinic. They both have bronchitis. Please say a prayer they get better soon.
I’m a little annoyed after leaving the doc’s office, though. Why do they ask you what allergies your kids have if they don’t check the chart to see what those allergies are? Mikaela is allergic to amoxicillin, and that’s exactly what the doctor prescribed her. He handed me the Rx and I handed it right back, saying, “she’s allergic.” He looked more than a tad annoyed as he went off to write another one. I know humans are not perfect, but it seems like almost every medical mistake I’ve personally witnessed could have been prevented if they had just slowed down and/or double-checked themselves.
That’s my rant for the day.
Christin on GMA
Christin Sherburne, who I’ve written about on this blog for her Kimkins diet/controversy story (and more recently, her bad car wreck), was on Good Morning America today. See video. She’s had quite the crazy last year or so.
Wow
You remember my friend Christin, who lost 100 pounds in less than a year on the Kimkins diet? Since then, she’s been on magazine covers, on TV and radio shows, and has had her life turned upside-down by the whole thing. She also came to find out that the Kimkins diet’s founder – “Kimmer” – was (allegedly) a fraud. She’s written about the whole ordeal at her blog.
That’s not the point, though: I just found out that Christin and her family were involved in a really bad car accident on 1/1. I looked at the photo and I just can’t believe no one was killed. Please keep the family in prayer as they recover.
Gabriel update, new category
I’ve been wanting to link all my blog entries about Gabriel’s ordeal together, and I finally did so today – I created a category called “Gabriel’s Journey.”
If you’re just tuning in, Gabriel is my 4-year-old son (he was born 10/03) who has recently been diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder, also known as Sensory Integration Dysfunction. The diagnosis has been a long time coming, ever since I first noticed his speech delay as an toddler, and later, when he had a lot of quirks and aversions, as well as fine- and gross-motor-skill delays. (An aside: Gabriel has had a very large head from early infancy, and was diagnosed with benign external hydrocephaly, which could be a contributing factor to his SID, speech and motor delays.)
SPD/SID in a nutshell: your senses – taste, touch, smell, sight, hearing, balance – take in information, which in a normal person, is processed correctly by the brain, which triggers an appropriate response. With SPD/SID, the sensory messages get garbled, leading to confusion.
For example, if a person’s sense of balance isn’t correctly communicating with the brain, the person may be very clumsy, even to the point of falling off their chair when sitting.
If a person’s hearing isn’t correctly processing messages, they may have a very hard time interpreting and acting on verbal instructions.
If a person’s touch receptors aren’t communicating properly with the brain, the person may be extremely over- or under-sensitive to touch. An over-sensitive child may get severely agitated or upset when the wind blows his hair. An under-sensitive child may fall down and cut their leg badly, and not even seem to notice.
Here’s the thing about SID/SPD: there are so many combinations of sensory issues that each individual child may have, it seems like no two cases are exactly alike. A child with this affliction may have problems with just one sense, with several senses, or even all of them.
Further, the severity of the problems can vary widely. One child with mild SID/SPD issues may be able to get through life just fine, while a child with severe SID/SPD might not be able to get through any routine task without problems.
Gabriel’s condition has manifested itself in a variety of ways. He has a subtype of SID/SPD called dyspraxia. Dyspraxia is poor motor planning/lack of coordination. His brain can’t always make his muscles do what he wants them to do. The biggest problem with that for him has been the oral dyspraxia, which has led to a severe speech delay. Dyspraxia has also led to fine- and gross-motor-skill delays: he has very poor hand strength and can’t hold a crayon or pencil properly for long, he has overall poor muscle tone and tires out easily, etc.
He also has another subtype of SID/SPD called Tactile Defensiveness. TD is over-responsiveness to touch. For instance, he has food texture aversions, which often makes him gag. He gets upset when water is poured over his head. He hates touching anything icky, slimy, or messy. He has actually gotten a lot better in this area, but it’s still somewhat of a problem, especially the food aversions.
Anyway, Gabriel is currently in Occupational Therapy to strenghten his motor skills, and he’s about to re-start speech therapy, as well. (He’s been in and out of speech programs since he was 2.)
If you’re a parent in the same boat, there’s a lot of great resources out there, from books to support groups to Web sites. Good luck and keep checking back; I’ll keep posting.
Signs and Symptoms of Sensory Processing Disorder
Sensory Processing Disorder Resource Center
Time magazine article on Sensory Integration Disorder
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1689216-1,00.html
What day is it again?
Today was so long, this morning seems like several days ago.
Yesterday Mikaela suddenly came down with a fever. She’s had the sniffles for over a week, but no fever until last night. We gave her tylenol and kept an eye on her last night and this morning, and she seemed better. She was barely warm at all. Jay and I called his sister to come babysit the kids so Jay and I could go out for a few hours for his birthday (which was today – or technically, yesterday – the 2nd). When Jay and I came back, Mikaela was grinning and running around, but I noticed her eyes looked a little glassy. I picked her up and she was blazing hot. I took her temp and it was 103.8. Yikes.
So, I got my stuff together and took her to the ER, since no doctor is open on a Sunday and I didn’t want to wait through another night with her fever being that high. So, we got to the ER and boy, was it crowded. I thought we were in for a long, long ordeal, but they called us back to the room pretty quickly. I think we were only there a couple of hours. She has an ear infection, it turns out. The doc gave her a prescription for antibiotics and let us go.
But let me back up … ER waiting rooms are intriguing places. I love to people-watch, and an ER is quite the circus. There was a pregnant woman with no teeth, a large family who took turns filing back to see whoever the patient was, a woman slumped in a wheelchair looking like she was flu-ish (I sat on the opposite side of the waiting room from her). There was a young-looking woman with her finger wrapped in gauze, and a bunch of other patients with nothing cluing me in to what they were there for. I always wish I could ask them why they were there!
I’ve had more ER trips in my life than I care to remember. There was the middle-of-the-night trip when I was very young and my throat was closing up (I had strep), the time I got my fingers slammed in the sliding door of a van when I was 16, the time I flew through the window of the truck I was riding in when I was 19, and the visit just a few short months later when I was in a horrible wreck with a drunk driver (other driver was drunk; he ran a stop sign and I smacked into him. They estimated I was going 40 and he was going 60 when we hit. Long story short, I still have neck problems.) I think the next visit is when I was 21 and got a spider bite that made a large red circle appear around it almost immediately after I was bitten (they gave me antibiotics and I was fine.) About a year later, a few months before my wedding, I thought I was having a heart attack. No kidding… worst pain ever. Turns out I was having really severe acid reflux and my esophagus spasmed shut or something like that. Stress can do that to you. They gave me liquid Prilosec and I got better immediately.
I think the next several visits were pregnancy-related. I actually went into labor with Mikaela at 35 weeks, but it stopped. They said I was dehydrated. Then there was the visit a few weeks after I had Mikaela and was having lung pain, which turned out to be pneumonia. That’s not even all my ER visits! I think you get the general idea … the hospital staff almost knows me by name.
And that’s not even counting all the times the kids have come down with high fevers on the weekend and I took them in …
And this is what I don’t understand: people have non-life-threatening yet urgent medical things that happen after regular doctors-office hours all the time. Even “after-hours” clinics don’t usually stay open that late. Why are there not doctor’s clinics that are open 24/7? It just makes sense, and would help take the pressure off the emergency rooms.
Okay, I’ve rambled enough and it’s really late. I’d better get some zzz’s.
My head is still spinning
Well, it’s been the better part of a week since Gabriel was diagnosed with Sensory Integration Disorder. I’m still in my “information-seeking” mode – reading everything I can get my hands on so I can better understand this condition that’s affecting my son, and what kind of implications it has for his future.
Simultaneously, my doctor is switching me from one anti-depressant to another that will hopefully give me more energy and help with my ADD (well, I’ve never been formally diagnosed with ADD, but if you’ve ever had a conversation with me, you could probably vouch for the fact that it’s likely I have it.) In the meantime, I’m drug-free, letting my system rid itself of the previous drug before I start taking the new one. And BOY, what a time to stop taking my prozac. What’s interesting is the fact that I’m not very mood-swingy at all … just numb and foggy-brained about this whole Gabriel thing.
I know, I know… I KNOW I should count my blessings, and I do. Things could be so much worse … he could have cancer, or something equally as horrible. I thank God that he doesn’t. It’s just hard to wrap my brain around the fact that my precious baby son might have a hard time in life because he is “different” from the “norm.” I grew up socially awkward and I know first-hand how mean kids can be to children who are different.
My mom, who is really good about telling the brutal truth (although I’m sure she often bites her tongue), said something really nice that cheered me up, though. She told me that God knew what He was doing when He gave us Gabriel, and that we’re the best possible parents for him. I actually think that’s the nicest thing my mom ever said to me. Being a good mom to my kids is the most important thing to me in the world, and I don’t think anyone in my family has ever said anything like that before, so it really warmed my heart.
Anyway, please say a prayer for our family … for our collective sanity, and for wisdom as we try to figure out what’s best for Gabriel therapy/schooling-wise.
Diagnosis Update
My four-year-old son, Gabriel was recently diagnosed with a type of Sensory-Processing Disorder [SPD](also known as Sensory Integration Dysfunction [SID]) during a visit to an OT (Occupational Therapist).
We’ve known that something was amiss with Gabriel’s development for quite some time. At his two-month-old pediatrician appointment, the doctor measured his head and was alarmed at how much it had grown since his two-week-old visit. She sent us for a CAT scan, and apparently that was inconclusive, so we were sent for an MRI. The neurologist who gave us the results said that he had external hydrocephalus (or external hydrocephaly? I’ve never been able to figure out what the difference is) – which is an abnormally large collection of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) found on the outside of the brain. The neurologist said that his head would continue to enlarge but that he would “grow into it” around school age (I guess he meant 6 or so?). He also mentioned that he could have motor delays.
I went back home and assumed everything would be fine with Gabriel. He was a handful from the time we brought him home until he was about 4 months old, thanks to acid reflux and a SEVERE gag reflex – he spit up constantly. When he was a bit older, Cheerios or anything solid or lumpy (like Stage 3 baby food, which contains small chunks of solid food) would make him projectile-vomit. He really couldn’t tolerate dry cereal or any finger foods until he was a year old. Today he is extremely picky and still has a bad gag reflex, which can be extremely frustrating. Certain textures seem to set him off. Anyway – all these years, I’ve been concerned, but have ultimately dismissed the food texture/gagging issues as pickiness/over-sensitivity. Everyone always told me that he’d grow out of it.
Another area I started becoming concerned with Gabriel about when he was a young baby was his language – or his lack thereof. He didn’t babble much at all. Maybe a coo here or there, but he definitely babbled less than other babies his age. As he grew, it became very clear that he was lagging behind his peers in their use of language. I would work with him, trying to drill words into his head, but he just seemed unable to make his mouth form the sounds. Everyone told me that he was a boy, and boys developed more slowly than girls. Even the pediatrician thought he’d grow out of it. But I kept having nagging doubts.
Another thing I’d noticed about Gabriel is that he hates getting his hands and feet messy. If his hands get dirty with food, paint, or markers, he will ball his fists up until he can wash his hands. He hates getting messy hands and will cry until they are clean.
He also hates having his hair washed or getting water in his face. I mean, HATES it and will scream like I’m trying to kill him. He also dislikes having his nails clipped and will cry every time I do it.
So, all of these things have been going on for awhile but I hadn’t linked them together in my head … I just thought he was a sensitive child. And possibly slow. At 4, he still has trouble getting dressed, eating with a spoon, and holding a pencil correctly. He had trouble riding a tricycle just a year ago (at 3), and still has trouble throwing balls. And the potty-training! He is just now finally potty-trained, at 4.
Believe it or not, all of these things are related to one another. The more I’ve read about SPD/SID, the brighter the light-bulb above my head has gotten. This is SPD/SID in a nutshell: his central nervous system doesn’t work correctly, so when one of his five senses (hearing, smell, touch, vision, taste) takes in a message, his brain may not interpret it correctly. This is the thing, though: no two kids with SPD/SID are alike. The symptoms of this syndrome vary greatly in intensity, as do the symptoms themselves.
An example – one child may have auditory processing disorder, one type of Sensory Processing Disorder. This child will hear verbal instructions but his/her brain will often not be able to interpret that message correctly or completely. Confusion ensues. Can you imagine how hard school would be for this child?
Other children have tactile defensiveness (Gabriel does, to a degree). Textures may bother them, and a gentle touch might feel like a punch. Their touch-receptors aren’t transmitting the correct message to the brain (or rather, the brain isn’t interpreting the transmitted message correctly … I’m not sure which is the case).
A third child may have problems with every single one of his senses, and it may severely hinder his everyday life.
Anyway, some children with SPD/SID have mild problems, others are severe. The results of these jumbled “sense”-messages can mean delays in gross and fine motor skills, inability to follow directions, social awkwardness and a host of other things.
We’re still making sense of all this. I’m scouring the Web and have just finished reading the ‘bible’ of SPD/SID, “The Out-of-Sync Child.” From what I’ve learned so far, this is how I think this syndrome is affecting Gabriel:
- His tactile sense is out-of-whack. I have just figured out that if he closes his eyes and you touch one of his body parts, he often can’t tell you where you just touched him. So, if his muscles and/or nerves aren’t properly communicating with his brain, that’s why he can’t seem to hold a pencil correctly, button his shirt by himself or touch his tongue to his nose. This ALSO explains his speech delay, since the muscles controlling his tongue are part of this whole problem.
- I also think he has some degree of auditory or visual-input processing issues. I say this because sometimes, he can’t follow the simplest directions.
- The “Out-of-Sync Child” book talks about kids that are over-responsive to stimuli, kids that are under-responsive to stimuli, and kids that are “sensory-seekers.” And apparently, kids can even be a combination of the above things. Gabriel must be, because he seems overly-sensitive about some things (dirty hands, hair washing, nail cutting, certain food textures), and under-sensitive to some stimuli (can’t feel how to grip pencil tightly, can’t button his own shirt, can’t follow some directions). But he’s also a sensory-seeker, because he constantly throws himself on the floor. Intentionally. I mean, he jumps up, and crashes onto the floor. Or climbs on the couch and crashes onto the floor. His occupational therapist said that this is normal and that he will continue to find ways to get tactile input/stimulation like this unless we provide him with lots of outlets for that energy. I asked the teacher if we should get him a jungle gym or a trampoline. She said, “both.” (anybody got $3,000 we can borrow? ha.)
Wow. My brain is exhausted.
The one thing I don’t know, though, is how/if the external hydrocephalus is connected to all of this.
But back to the symptoms – I didn’t give you an all-encompassing list of Gabriel’s problems, because this blog post is long enough already. Suffice it to say, I’ve done my homework and I am convinced this diagnosis is correct. If you are a parent of a child with a speech delay, SPD/SID or external hydrocephalus (or you suspect that your child may have these types of issues), email me and we can talk at length. For more information:
SENSORY PROCESSING DISORDER RESOURCES (I’ll add more soon!)
List of books and videos about SPD
Signs and Symptoms of Sensory Processing Disorder/Sensory Integration Disorder
Sensory Processing Disorder Foundation
Sensory Integration Education and Research Foundation
Sensory Processing Disorder Resource Center
Tactile Defensiveness/Sensory Defensiveness
Oral Defensiveness / Picky Eating
Update: For all the blog entries relating to Gabriel’s external hydrocephaly, SPD/SID, Speech delay, etc. click on Gabriel’s Journey.
Scary
After a number of deaths and a warning from the FDA, the manufacturers of cough and cold medicine for infants are pulling their products off the market. One of the products is one I have in my medicine cabinet and have used on both kids – Triaminic Infant & Toddler Thin Strips Decongestant Plus Cough.
The FDA is pushing for a warning against “decongestant use in children under 2, and antihistamines in those younger than 6.”
I should have bought stock in Breathe Right® strips.
